Why you shouldn't play Destiny's Crucible if you want good loot

Destiny is infamous for its RNG loot system – you could play the same game with two other people, get twice the amount of kills, and end up with nothing while they unlock their second Gjallarhorn. It’s interesting, then, to learn the specifics of how often certain loot drops in the Crucible, Destiny‘s PvP arena. While it’s no surprise to learn that the answer is ‘not much’, the surprise is in just how little you really get while playing Crucible.

Reddit user ‘beeray784’ and their roommate, also known for their exploration of Destiny‘s Strike loot drops, played 500 games of Crucible and 200 of Iron Banner to bring you the data below. The loot drop data is based on 1,000 drops for Crucible and 400 for Iron Banner (the original number multiplied by two, because they’re examining both of their data).

What’s interesting are the percentage of games in which they had absolutely nothing drop: 56.6% in Crucible, and 28% in Iron Banner.

In comparison to their coverage of 200 (400 counting the roommate) Strike loot drops, Destiny‘s Strike loot is just generally better than that found in the Crucible. For my favourite reference points, they found 8 Exotic weapons in Strikes (versus 3), and their percentage of nothing dropping was 28%.

Their conclusion, and mine: Crucible is for those who enjoy PvP. If you want good loot, you’re better off playing Strikes non-stop.

They sound like awesome drops! From what I can remember, the best thing I’ve gotten is a DLC ship that I currently use. Apart from that not much, but I don’t play PvP as much as I should

WranglerVinny

Well yeah… we all know this. Best loot comes from raids and nightfall… or grind IB to rank 4 or 5. That’s pretty much the common method. Crucible and Strikes are for fun, ranks, marks, commendations, glimmer, and bounties.